Italian Beaches – Look For The Blue Flag

Italian Beaches – Look For The Blue Flag

Italian Beaches that have a blue flag flying are safe for you to enjoy. The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful, that beauty at times can be deceptive. Just because a beach looks clean and the water is the blue-green that is unique to the Mediterranean does not mean the swimming is safe for you and your family. Like many of the world’s beaches some of Italy’s beaches are sadly, polluted and dirty.

Europe, South Africa, Morocco, New Zealand, Canada and the Caribbean have all implemented the blue flag system over the past few years. The Blue Flag Program is owned and run by the independent non-profit organization – Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE)

The Blue Flag program works to promote sustainable development at beaches and marinas by using strict criteria for water quality, environment management, safety and other services.

Italy’s beaches, like all beaches, are treasures that need to be preserved for future generations to enjoy. This is not always easy with more and more people seeking to enjoy a day at the beach. Italy has 7,600 km (approximately 4,700 miles) of coastline, much of it among the most beautiful in the world.

Italy is a peninsula that is surrounded by many seas – the Mediterranean Sea, the Ligurian Sea, the Sardinian Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea.

The Blue Flag is awarded to beaches based on cleanliness, water quality provisions for waste and recycling and safe swimming areas among other things. There are 27 criteria in total for beaches and 16 criteria for marinas. Blue Flags are also awarded to fresh water beaches in the Lake Region of Italy.

Blue flags are awarded for one season at a time. If a beach does not meet the Blue Flag criteria during the season the Blue Flag can be withdrawn.